The CDC’s landmark Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study identified profound connections between experiences of abuse, neglect, and household stress before age 18 and a broad range of poor physical, mental health, and social outcomes across the lifespan, including negative impacts on reproductive health and pregnancy. Additional research highlighted an association between maternal and other caregiver childhood adversity with a range of biological and developmental consequences for their children beginning at conception and continuing through early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Preventing trauma, building resilience, and supporting healing are possible and necessary to disrupt this intergenerational transmission of trauma and create the healthy environments that make it possible for children to thrive. The Illinois Department of Public Health’s Office of Women’s Health and Family Services (OWHFS) receives federal Title V funding each year to improve maternal, child, and infant health outcomes across the state. Specifically, the Maternal Child Health (MCH) ACEs program seeks to strengthen families and communities, by ensuring safe and healthy environments for children to grow and thrive, and by assuring access to systems of care that are youth friendly and youth responsive.
